KAPA‘A — “Earth. Ants. Dirt. Ground. Where’s the violin?”
“One. Two. Three. Four; Uno, dos, tres, quatro. Where’s the violin? Ichi. Ni. San. Shi, Ekahi, Elua, Ekolu, Eha. Where’s the violin?”
Students primarily ages 4 and 5 sang through “The Earth Song” and “The Numbers Song,” under the direction of instructor Megan Lawson, an instructor with the Kaua‘i Opio and Keiki Orchestra, as they went through their paces on Wednesday, the final day of practice before the school’s big winter concert at the All Saints Episcopal Church gym.
“We’ve got to do this concert in different classes because of the COVID-19 rules,” said Warren Dastrup, the All Saints Preschool music director. “Each class performs before their families on different days. The violin class does their performance Thursday to end the semester.”
Working to the lyrics of a baby lullaby, the students went through the ritual of getting the four-stringed instrument free of the safety belt and onto their shoulders for play, the songs that preceded the ritual coming to light — earth, ants, dirt and ground denoting each of the four strings, the numerology exercises symbolizing the four strings on the instruments.
The big moment is violin assignment because of the limited number of instruments and the class size being greater than the number of instruments available.
“Most of the violin students are either 4 or 5 years old because of the skills involved,” said All Saints Preschool Director Dominique Cami M.P. Baldovino. “Music has been mainly choral, but this year we added violin.”
“The students do two classes a week,” Lawson said. “They come for regular music classes, and they come for violin classes. We incorporate both. Uncle Warren composes the songs for the children to sing, and sings with them.”
Lawson said she is working with Sarah Tochiki of the Kaua‘i Association for Music Education to get violins into the preschool after successfully launching a violin program for middle-school students through the Boys &Girls Club of Hawai‘i Lihu‘e Clubhouse. Those middle-school students were engaged in a fundraiser earlier in collaboration with the Kaua‘i Society of Artists, where violins became more than a musical instrument.
“This year, KOKO forged a new relationship with the All Saints school,” Lawson said. “We are just finishing our first semester of keiki violin for students ages 4 and 5 years old. This has been a wonderful collaboration involving the school administration, teachers and especially having the opportunity to work alongside uncle Warren.”
Dastrup was actively involved with the students, singing “The Earth Song” along with them, and counting to four before settling back to watch the Christmas-carol practice.
“When they first told me we were going to do violins,” Dastrup’s mind wandered off with his words. “Megan is phenomenal. Do you realize she’s a mother of two boys? And her husband? You need to listen to their band live.”
What is on the horizon for the next semester?
“I’d like to get this violin program into all the preschools,” Lawson said.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
